Iranian Association of Chemical Engineering (IAChE) Iranian Journal of Chemical Engineering (IJChE) 1735-5397 15 4 2018 11 01 Propionic acid extraction in a microfluidic system: simultaneous effects of channel diameter and fluid flow rate on the flow regime and mass transfer 48 62 80765 EN F. Hosseini CFD Research Center, Chemical Engineering Department, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran M. Rahimi CFD Research Center, Chemical Engineering Department, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran 0000-0002-1144-9351 O. Jafari CFD Research Center, Chemical Engineering Department, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran Journal Article 2018 06 29 In this work, extraction of propionic acid from the aqueous phase to the organic phase (1-octanol) was performed in T-junction microchannels and effects of channel diameter and fluid flow rate on the mass transfer characteristics were investigated. The two-phase flow patterns in studied microchannels with 0.4 and 0.8 mm diameters were observed. Weber ‎ number and surface-to-volume ratio were calculated for evaluating flow patterns. Moreover, the effect of volumetric flow rates on the extraction ‎efficiency, volumetric mass transfer coefficient, and pressure drop was examined. Results showed that the pressure drop in the microchannel with 0.4 mm diameter is 2-2.7 times higher than that in the microchannel with 0.8 mm diameter. In both microchannels, with increase in flow rate, the extraction ‎efficiency first increases and then decreases. In addition, at high flow rates (2.4, 4.5 and 6 mL/min), the extraction ‎efficiency in the microchannel with 0.8 mm diameter increased up to the range of 7-14.9 % compared with that in the microchannel with 0.4 mm diameter. https://www.ijche.com/article_80765_d7e576ddd613b33a3ec6b0c14a58ff8c.pdf